Today is the 410th day of the full-scale russian war against Ukraine. Yesterday we had the dead God, and today we have the risen God, and you may argue with me theologically if you wish, though what I want to share is something other than theology. It belongs to the kind of experience you often cannot describe in correct systematic language.
I have come to believe that the Bible holds two questions from God to humanity that matter more than any others, one addressed to Adam, “Where are you?”, and one addressed to Mary Magdalene, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
Both questions open a conversation, since in each case God and Jesus were the ones who spoke first, which already tells you something about the desire behind them.
Both questions invite honesty. God’s question to Adam gave him room to confess his disobedience, and the question Jesus asked Mary gave her room to say aloud what she was carrying.
Both questions carry feeling. God’s question to Adam reveals His sorrow at what had happened, and the question Jesus asked reveals His compassion for a woman standing in a garden and weeping.
Both questions lead somewhere. With Adam it led to a conversation about sin and its consequences, which showed us God’s justice held together with His mercy, and with Mary it led to a conversation about the resurrection and the hope it brought, which showed us His power held together with His love.
Where, then, is the hope for me in these two questions, the one to a man and the one to a woman?
Both belong to the theme of redemption, and both reveal a loving and compassionate nature in God that we consistently underestimate.
In the first question, God comes looking for Adam after Adam has sinned and fallen away from the condition he was made for, and since God moves first while the man is still hiding, the question is already the beginning of redemption rather than its conclusion.
In the second, Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene after the resurrection and shows her that redemption and hope hold even inside great sorrow and loss, so that the same movement which began with a question in the garden of Eden ends with a question in another garden, where death has been defeated and eternal life is offered to everyone who believes in Him.
Both questions show God’s love and concern for what He made, and His will to bring us back into a right relationship with Him. Through them we see that redemption works as a process rather than a single event, and that God is involved in it continually, with the aim of bringing us to wholeness and to the fullness of life He intended for us.
In wartime, wholeness and completeness sound like theological fantasy, since we are so deeply broken inside and live surrounded by so much that is broken. And yet the hope is that God meets us where we actually are, in our deepest sorrows and in the dark, coming down to our level rather than waiting for us to climb to His. His questions are a reminder that He is present and attentive, and that we are not alone even when we feel alone. As with Adam and with Mary, His questions tend to arrive at the pivotal moments, and we would do well to listen for that voice and to name honestly what the pain is.
Even when we feel unworthy of being used by God again, or too broken by this war to be of any use, His questions remind us that we still have significance and a place in His plans. He wants a relationship in which we can be honest and unguarded, telling Him our hurts and our questions and our griefs without dressing them up. So every man today should learn to answer Him when He asks, “Where are you, Taras?” And every man, together with Jesus, should learn to ask, “Why are you weeping, Natasha?”
Peace be with you, the People of the Bridge, and I wish you a silent night, from your crippled brother in Christ.
Taras Dyatlik, Ukraine
9 April 2023
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